ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Personality and Social Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1653542
Analyzing the effect of physical activity on cyberattack behaviour in college students using the chain mediation model
Provisionally accepted
- School of Education, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China
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Abstract :Cyberattack behavior is an undesirable phenomenon among college students in China that cannot be ignored, and it has always been under the close scrutiny of researchers.This study investigated and analyzed 536 college students using the Physical Activity Rating Scale, the Cyber Aggressive Behavior Scale, the Moral Excuse Scale, and the Rumination Thinking Scale. The aim was to explore the mediating effect of moral excuses and rumination thinking on the relationship between physical activity and cyberattack behavior in college students.FINDINGS:(1) Physical activity, moral excuses,rumination thinking, and cyberattack behavior among college students are correlated in pairs. (2) Physical activity negatively predicted moral excuses and cyberattack behavior as well as rumination thinking.Moral excuses positively predicted rumination thinking and cyberattack behavior while rumination thinking positively predicted cyberattack behavior.CONCLUSION:Moral excuses and rumination thinking both individually and chain-mediate the relationship between physical activity and cyberattack behavior among college students.
Keywords: physicalactivity, cyberattackbehavior, moralexcuses, ruminationthinking, college students
Received: 27 Jun 2025; Accepted: 06 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhao and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Hongbo Zhao, hongbo1128@163.com
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